11 Hoyt Turns Brooklyn’s Skyline Into a Window Seat
The ripples on this Brooklyn tower are places to sit. Behind them is a carefully engineered system that moves living space beyond the edge of the floor slab.
Architecture
New York architecture explained through the engineering, design, history, and hidden systems of the city's most significant buildings.
The Bronx Glasshouse That Had to Survive Its Own Rain Forest
At the New York Botanical Garden, the conditions that sustain tropical plants also challenge a historic steel structure. Saving its palm dome required engineering an enclosure within an enclosure.
How the William Vale Lifts a Hotel Above Williamsburg
The William Vale’s giant diagonals do more than announce a Brooklyn landmark. They reconcile two competing ambitions: skyline views above and open public space below.
Why DUMBO’s Most Famous View Works
On Washington Street, brick warehouses, a steel bridge and a distant skyscraper turn a slice of Brooklyn into a remarkably complete picture of New York.
Why the Floors Don’t Line Up at 420 Kent
On Brooklyn’s waterfront, three glass towers turn a simple apartment perk into an architectural puzzle: how do you give more people a corner?
How Olympia DUMBO Turned Zoning Limits Into a Sail
At the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, an awkward former parking lot became a sculpted condominium tower. Its curves reveal a negotiation between waterfront history, zoning and gravity.
ModernHaus SoHo and the Value of Leaving Space
At this SoHo hotel, lifting the guestroom tower created something a solid building could not: a layered landscape of gardens, gathering places, and elevated views.
Why HL23 Leans Over the High Line
At West 23rd Street, a narrow Manhattan lot became a test of zoning, geometry, and structural steel. The result is a condominium that grows wider as it rises.
New York’s Skybridges Have Always Been About More Than Shortcuts
From hospital laundries to a swimming pool above Manhattan, New York’s elevated passages reveal who gets connected and what happens to the street below.
The School Deal That Gave 35XV Its Shape
Above Xavier High School, a glass condominium tower stretches beyond its base. Its unusual silhouette records a bargain between education, real estate, and New York zoning.
The Engineering Beneath Boston University’s Jenga Tower
BU’s stacked tower pairs carefully calibrated steel cantilevers with geothermal boreholes reaching 1,500 feet underground. Its boldest move is largely invisible.
The Manhattan Hotel That Crossed the Atlantic in Pieces
CitizenM Bowery’s rooms were built in Poland and stacked in New York. Behind the LEGO comparison lies a demanding marriage of factory production and skyscraper engineering.